Gov. Andrew Cuomo has twice vetoed a bill stemming from the Kiryas Joel annexation conflict that would have given county planners a say in certain annexation requests, arguing both times that the proposal violated a clause in the state constitution.

An attorney for his own Department of State came to a different conclusion, writing in a 2015 memo to Cuomo's top lawyer that the bill was consistent with the annexation provisions in the constitution. That two-page memo - now stored in the state's archives with the vetoed bill and other statements for and against the legislation - wasn't delivered until two months after Cuomo's first veto, but was available for the governor's office to consider when state lawmakers passed the bill for the second time and sent it to back to Cuomo in 2016.

In a recent interview, Alphonso David, the governor's counsel, said the Department of State memo was just one of many opinions he weighed before advising Cuomo to veto the bill again, and that it "didn't make any difference in our ultimate conclusion." He argued the bill would have given counties control over certain annexation requests, in violation of the constitution, and would have effectively invalidated simple-majority votes in support of an annexation when planners had recommended against them.

David also argued the bill shouldn't have been entertained without a formal home-rule request from Orange County, since it "targeted" two pending requests for Kiryas Joel to annex land from Monroe. That reason was not stated in either of Cuomo's two veto messages.

Assemblyman James Skoufis, the Woodbury Democrat who introduced the bill, contends the Department of State memo finding no constitutional barriers betrays Cuomo's favoritism for Kiryas Joel, whose leaders strongly opposed the legislation. He and the bill's supporters insisted it complied with the constitution because it would have left annexation decisions in the hands of the two municipalities involved.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this governor gives immense special treatment to the Village of Kiryas Joel," Skoufis said. "He's even willing to ignore his own legal advice in going to bat for them. It's truly startling."

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Bill Larkin Jr., would have let counties advise municipalities whether to approve or reject an annexation petition that would require a county or the annexing municipality to provide water or sewer service. Supporters argued the bill would simply apply the oversight role counties already play with development plans, giving them input on border changes that would have a regional impact.

Kiryas Joel and its supporters complained the true motive was to thwart the pending annexation requests, and urged Cuomo to veto it. Kiryas Joel's attorneys argued the bill violated a constitutional clause that requires a county's consent only for annexation proposals that would change the county's borders. Letting counties weigh in on requests that don't change their borders, and forcing local boards to get a super-majority vote to override those recommendations, "clearly exceeds a county's authority under the Constitution," the lawyers wrote in 2015.

Matthew Tebo, director of intergovernmental affairs and legislative counsel for the Department of State, raised no such objections in his September 2015 memo to David. Tebo concluded that local boards would "maintain decision-making authority with respect to the annexations," though he acknowledged that annexations could become "more difficult to achieve" if a county recommends against them. He also concluded the bill likely would foster "good regional planning."

The annexation oversight bill had set off a heated side-drama to the battle over two petitions for Kiryas Joel to annex 507 acres or 164 acres from Monroe. Cuomo, lobbied heavily by both sides, delighted Kiryas Joel and its supporters by vetoing the legislation in July 2015. Annexation opponents were furious, and became more so shortly afterward, when they learned that a Kiryas Joel developer donated $250,000 to Cuomo's campaign within days of the veto.